Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove Announced

After hinting that a new Toejam & Earl game was on the way, it appears as if a new Toejam & Earl game is actually coming... courtesy of Kickstarter. The pitch video was recently put up and the game is already well on its way toward its funding goal.

Humanature Studios is behind the project, headed up by the original designer of the Toejam & Earl games, Greg Johnson. He feigns a fairly convincing Scottish accent throughout most of the video above, but gets right to the point of explaining what the vision is for the new Toejam & Earl title, Back in the Groove.

The game will be centered around 2D sprites that up to four-players will be able to control, either locally or via online play, and the game worlds themselves will be rendered in 3D. The gameplay will be isometric like the original Toejam & Earl, so if you were a bit fan of the colorful side-scrolling adventure on the Sega Genesis, Panic on Funkatron, you might be a bit disappointed with the revert back to the isometric view from the first game. And to be honest, I actually preferred Panic on Funkatron to the first game... I just couldn't really get into the design or play-style of the original, but I loved everything about the second title. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

But it's not all bad for those of you (like myself) who enjoyed the second game. According to the Kickstarter page...

“As we said, this is mostly like game one, but we'll be bringing back some of the things you've asked for from game 2. Things like the Jam Out, hidden presents, and buttons and coin meters. Maybe we'll even be able to bring back the Hyperfunk Zone!”

Players will venture around, gathering up parts and searching through procedurally generated levels. That's right, with today's technology we'll now see stacked levels randomly generated so that players will have tons to explore and experience and the replay values are almost limitless. It's the kind of emergent gameplay that makes titles like Minecraft or Rust fresh and exciting to play, as well as keeps people excited and on the edge of their seats for upcoming titles like No Man's Sky.

To help further get gamers in the mood for the upcoming title, an animated video featuring vocal performances by Tonez The Prince and Greg Brown was put together to help further sell gamers on the pitch. Check it out below.

The video is already gaining a lot of steam and positive feedback, opposite of EA's recent Battlefield Hardline promo video for the 10 free hours of gameplay for EA Access subscribers.

In fact, most of the feedback in the comment section is full of cheer, joy and a dash of nostalgia, with one user, David Forbush, commenting saying...

“90's vibe done right. So perfect I cannot put it all into words. Everything—from the art style and dialogue to the mixing and musical composition—screams RETRO COOLNESS! Something this well done could have its own TV series. I would seriously watch this! As for the Kickstarter, you can count me in! A'ight! Let's do this. C'mon! :D?"

If you like what Humanature Studios has in store with the new Toejam & Earl game, you can help them hit their $400,000 goal by paying a visit to the official Kickstarter page. If the game manages to hit its goal the team has plans to branch out for a possible home console release, so keep your eyes peeled on those stretch goals.